Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 16th August 2021
Just giving a heads up for a quiz to be posted soon - in a new thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone enjoyed anything by Denis Johnson other than Jesus' Son and Train Dreams? Just wondering because he has other short books."yes i read the Stars at Noon and liked it, not enough to send be bounding after his other novels but it was a good read
The quiz is now open!https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Sorry for the late hour - I was busy before.
As regular G readers, you may see this anyway, but I think this week's Top 10 on gripes in literature are great:https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
I thought of TB immediately!
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Yet another post that makes me miss @kmir.
I also enjoyed The Largesse of the Sea Maiden.
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Thanks for this, Shelflife!
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I've been reading two novels with leading characters who are real people and much as I enjoyed them both, they left me feeling vaguely uneasy. I need to think some more about this.
The first was The Narrow Land by Christine Dwyer Hickey. I've already written here how much I liked her Last Train From Liguria. The Narrow Land is about Edward Hopper and his wife Jo during a summer on Cape Cod. There have been various articles lately about the wives of famous painters who although artists themselves don't get recognition, for example Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock's wife, and here Jo Hopper is bitterly resentful of her lack of success compared with her husband.
The second is A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson, set on Hydra at the beginning of the sixties, focusing on the couple of writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston. Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen are there too ... And the women have the role of looking after the men and enabling them to write. I read this book through a sort of golden haze: I went to Hydra a few years later, after hitchhiking to Greece as a student, and it took me back there so vividly. I can't really judge it dispassionately.
I've read Charmian Clift's Mermaid Singing about their experiences on Kalymnos before they moved to Hydra and I have Peel Me A Lotus waiting to be read.
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "As regular G readers, you may see this anyway, but I think this week's Top 10 on gripes in literature are great."Thanks bl! I was there before any comments had been made, but I can see now that the bloody moderator is also having a bit of a rant, ironically. Jesus, they're a trigger-happy one, who apparently have no issue making posts disappear entirely (as opposed to mark them as modded). They've even deleted a post by Ellmann herself (and made mine, which mentioned this, vanish, even if I had avoided the "m" word). Gggrrrr. Maybe this is all meta, to create a big BTL rant?
Hushpuppy wrote: "They've even deleted a post by Ellmann herself (and made mine, which mentioned this, vanish, even if I had avoided the "m" word). "It must be a new level to delete a comment by the author of the column! Would you care to summarise here what Ellmann, and your good self, had to say? I'm sure we'd find it interesting!
I am very steadily working my way through Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter
It is very rare for me to prefer the short stories of an author to their longer work, but not even 20% into this, and I think that is the case with Angela Carter. The stories are in chronological order, so I have only read her earliest work, and already appreciating them so much, I have slowed my reading pace down accordingly.
I'll review a few of the best ones as I get through it...it will take me a few weeks...
The Loves of Lady Purple
This is the sort of classic horror story the once I read, I will certainly never forget.
A Japanese puppeteer travels to a superstitious Transylvanian town
where they wreathed suicides with garlic, pierced them through the heart with stakes and buried them at crossroads.
Using his finely-crafted marionettes, her performs a grand play about a femme fatale with the name of Lady Purple. Despite the language barrier, the villagers follow the story and are entranced and quite frightened.
Carter's descriptions bring the marionettes to life, almost as if you are part of the audience.
Flesh and the Mirror about a young female traveller who arrives in Tokyo to find the person she is due to meet is no longer there. I suspect this is auto-biographical.
Here’s a wonderful quote that reminds me of my days of travel, when much younger..
Random chance operates in relation to these existential lacunae; one tumbles down them when, for the time being, due to hunger, despair, sleeplessness, hallucination or those accidental-on-purpose misreading of train timetables and airline schedules that produce margins of empty time, one is lost. One is at the mercy of events. That is why I like to be a foreigner; I travel only for the insecurity. But I did not know that, then.
The Smile of Winter in which an unnamed narrator has lost her lover and is living alone by the sea. But though she sees her situation positively, and even with a touch of romance..
I collect driftwood and set it up among the pine trees in picturesque attitudes on the edge of the beach and then I strike a picturesque attitude myself beside them as I watch the constantly agitated waves, for here we all strike picturesque attitudes and that is why we are so beautiful.
In Master Carter portrays a very unpleasant hunter who travels to the Amazon rainforest and purchases a female slave to accompany him on his travels and who he can abuse at will.
This is a dark fable with only these two characters. Written in the 1970s this is a story of colonial exploitation, a hatred of natural beauty and tranquility, and how and the fabrication of a killer.
SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone enjoyed anything by Denis Johnson other than Jesus' Son and Train Dreams? Just wondering because he has other short books."I thought "Tree of Smoke" was fantastic, but, yeah, not short.
Once Upon the River Love by Andreï Makine, translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan.
A coming of age story that ranks up with the very best, of three friends growing up together in the village of Svetlaya in eastern Siberia in the 1960s. Dimitri, a dreamy and romantic adolescent, who will leave the frozen tundra for Cinema School in Leningrad, narrates, telling lovingly of his close companions, Samurai and Utkin. Samurai has become obsessed by strength after he was sexually assaulted at ten years old, and Utkin, a much weaker boy with a limp after his leg was crushed by an ice flow, but the brains of the trio.
Though their locality might seem lacking in inspiration for youths of their age, they are between 14 and 16, their escapades are full of hope and dare; whether it is Dimitri sexual initiation with a red-haired prostitute, the many miles they travel on skis to the Red October cinema to watch the films of their idol, Jean-Paul Belmondo, (sixteen times for one film alone), to their trip on the nearby Trans-Siberian railway to the east coast, and a brush with the 'Western World'.
It is refreshing to read, humorous regularly, and generally, quite wonderful.
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Some novels that are based around actual events stick very closely to fact, but that is not the case here, which I think is to the novel's detriment.
In her afterword, Moreno-Garcia explains briefly about the event she starts the novel with, The Corpus Christi Massacre in which a government trained paramilitary group slaughtered 120 protesting students. The regime of the President, Echeverria, went on to repress, censor and ofen execute journalists, politicians, and music, the latter of which the author touches on throughout the novel.
This is a hard-boiled noir, the bringing together of two most unlikely characters, Elvis a young member of the Hawks, and quite cleverly, Maite, a secretary, on the verge of turning thirty and desperately longing for a life of romance and adventure.
Here is Moreno-Garcia demonstrating her versatility. I would have prefered her to stick closer to the events of the early 70s, but nonetheless, she entertains. Also though, I prefer he darker side, with the elements of horror and fantasy used in her earlier work.
The Measure of Time by Gianrico Carofiglio, translated by Howard Curtis.
This is my second Carofiglio, after The Cold Summer, and this is just as enjoyable.
I used to read a lot of crime, but much less so these days, so it was particularly welcome.
This is actually the sixth outing for his narrator / lawyer Guido Guerrieri, who often quotes literature amongst his notes, saying how much he enjoys digressions when he reads or writes. So its no surprise that Carofiglio does the same, and in many ways these are the strength of the novel; the plot ticks along nicely, but its his characters, and what they get up to, along with the Bari setting, that are most appealing.
As a lawyer writing about his case there is a danger that he will get bogged down in detail, and just once or twice the writing threatens to do that, but just about maintains the balance of personal reflection and professional action. Inevitably the last chapters are in the courtroom, where this ambiguous case is satisfyingly wrapped up, but it was went before that really drew me in.
I will certainly begin to fill in my gaps in the Guerrieri series.
Machenbach wrote: "I lost a perfectly innocent post too, and the whole thread went. Somebody corrected Lucy Ellmann to say that Miss Bates was in Emma rather than Pride and Prejudice. I agreed and added that Master Bates was in Portnoy's Complaint. Woosh, the whole lot went. Puritans."I know. I did reply to your other post to let you know (that's my post that disappeared entirely), and also to somebody who complained (ah) there was no Portnoy's Complaint btl (I mentioned there was a reference to it, but that it had gone; this one was modded).
They also restored the post by BienPensant making a reference to Salinger, as it was initially deleted. As I said, gachette facile! Probably an over-zealous rookie.
@scarlet: as MB said, somebody asked the probably not so innocent question to Ellmann: "male silliness", what about "female silliness"? To which Ellmann replied very matter of factly that there was a profusion of these in literature, and gave Miss Bates (mistakenly attributed to P&P, later corrected by someone who said Emma) and Flora from Little Dorrit as examples. The whole thread was taken out because of the presumably loaded initial question; but ffs, let people, esp. the author, reply to this guy if indeed it was a slightly malicious question!
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "As regular G readers, you may see this anyway, but I think this week's Top 10 on gripes in literature are great:https://www.theguardian.com/books/202......"
King Lear wore braces?
Machenbach wrote: "the disgusting photo of a tardigrade"Ah - I think it's kind of cute; think a bit of a cartoon-ish helpless monster! Snakes are what gets me.
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AB and Sandya, I loved this - maybe time to re-read. Mine is in a Penguins Classics edition: Four Stories by American Women
The other 3 are Life in the Iron Mills by Rebecca Harding Davis, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Souls Belated by Edith Wharton.
SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone enjoyed anything by Denis Johnson other than Jesus' Son and Train Dreams? Just wondering because he has other short books."I enjoyed Angels, gave it 5 stars at the time..
Thanks to @Hushpuppy and @Machenbach for explaining the background to the Guardian mod incident... a bit OTT on their part, but that's hardly new!
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I must say, Sandya, the The Country of the Pointed Firs is wonderful so far,idyllic and robust in its New England colours, phrases and outlook. ..."AB and Sandya, I loved this - mayb..."
I have this copy but am reading another Jewett collection. Perkins Gillman dissapointed me with her writing
Perfect time to re-read this Gpfr as its still summer and the book is a summery one, evocative of open air, coastal towns and lives in the 1890s. The style of 19th century writing is important to me and some novels can become laborious and tedious, somewhat over loaded but Jewett has a light, bright touch with a good feel for words and phrases
Hushpuppy wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "the disgusting photo of a tardigrade"Ah - I think it's kind of cute; think a bit of a cartoon-ish helpless monster! Snakes are what gets me."
Roaches, ergh!
Machenbach wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "I lost a perfectly innocent post too, and the whole thread went. Somebody corrected Lucy Ellmann to say that Miss Bates was in Emma rather than Pride and Prejud..."Tardigrades look rathe like miniature wrinkled manatees!
I finished Klara and the Sun a couple of days ago. Ishiguro does it again! This book will stay with me, and was thought provoking.It wasn't surprising that a robot who was solar powered for the most part made a deity out of the sun. I come close to sun- worship myself after a long winter...
I like the way he leaves the reader to work out what is meant by "lifted" children and doesn't explain it until quite late in the story.
He portrays childlike innocence so well.
I agree with CC that it is not as powerful as Never Let Me Go, but it deals with the same question- what make us human?- and also what does it mean to love. A worthwhile read.
Andy (#280), thank you so much for the lovingly detailed reminder on Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories. I loved this story collection. Definitely one for a reread!@ Hushpuppy: Ah, thanks for the info on deletes. Someone overmotivated, it seems!
Mailers A Fire On The Moon
is a book i wish i had noticed a long time ago, as its a brilliant work of New Journalism and fits in well with the Didion book i read in the winterThe Moon Landings have always fascinated me and i enjoyed the documentaries in 2019, celebrating 50 years since the event. So far, Mailer has spent time studying the characters involved in NASA, there are the three astronauts(Armstrong is wonderfully described), the ex Nazi rocketman Von Braun and the NASA bigwigs.
So far none of it has dragged, i couldnt finish his book on 1968, so am pleased this reads better..
Andy wrote: "I am very steadily working my way through Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories by Angela Carter [bookcover:Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories|76..."Fireworks and The Bloody Chamber are both excellent. I remember thinking the other couple of collections are less strong, but the uncollected materials were also good.
Thanks everyone who replied regarding Denis Johnson. I distinctly remember someone on TLS disliking Tree of Smoke, but that's pretty typical.
AB76 wrote: "Mailers A Fire On The Moon is a book i wish i had noticed a long time ago, as its a brilliant work of New Journalism and fits in well with the Didion book i..."As a completely sideway comment, which possibly says more about me, than the subject, when the sprog was about 10 or so he was a big Star Trek fan, I often found myself taking him to SF fayres, usually held in sports halls, around the county. Whilst filling in time as he browsed the various offerings on sale, I came across a model of Werner von Brauns plan for an orbiting nuclear power plant. In my ignorance I believed it would come with his complete plans of how he expected it to work. I wanted the whole drawings. Just before I handed over my cash I asked the chap manning the stall. "It does come with his plans as to how it was going to work, doesn't it?" He looked at me as if i was from another planet, and said "No, it's just a plastic model, of the design he drew". There's me told!... I was crushed... I really wanted to know how it might possibly work, but there you go... I think it's more popular for people to have a model of the 'thing', rather than to know how the 'thing' itself might possibly work.
The Master – Colm Tóibín
This was impressive. It tells the story of Henry James in his fifties, covering the five years after the failure of his play Guy Domville, his move from Kensington to Rye, and his return visits to Venice and Rome. The outward facts of his life are, as it were, no more than a veil, or scrim. The reality that we see and that CT evokes with delicacy and tact is the interior life of Henry James himself. And it is not only the musings and workings of his mind, the reflections on his strong-willed family, the recollection of conversations that inform the novels and stories, the rumination on his tentative liaisons past and present (his sexuality left variable and ambiguous) and the summer month spent with female cousins when he was 22 that taught him “all he needed to know in life.” There is the tone and manner as well. In place of CT’s usual style, which I think of as a kind of weighted simplicity, there is the following-out of a winding thread and the careful observation of unspoken thoughts and lingering silences. It is not a parody, or even, it seems to me, a conscious adoption of the other’s method, though he does borrow phrases from James’ own writings. It is more as if CT has absorbed James’ way of thinking and feeling, and let it express itself as it may – including several scenes of perfect comedy. After a while I started reading very slowly, to prolong the pleasure.
This was impressive. It tells the story of Henry James in his fifties, covering the five years after the failure of his play Guy Domville, his move from Kensington to Rye, and his return visits to Venice and Rome. The outward facts of his life are, as it were, no more than a veil, or scrim. The reality that we see and that CT evokes with delicacy and tact is the interior life of Henry James himself. And it is not only the musings and workings of his mind, the reflections on his strong-willed family, the recollection of conversations that inform the novels and stories, the rumination on his tentative liaisons past and present (his sexuality left variable and ambiguous) and the summer month spent with female cousins when he was 22 that taught him “all he needed to know in life.” There is the tone and manner as well. In place of CT’s usual style, which I think of as a kind of weighted simplicity, there is the following-out of a winding thread and the careful observation of unspoken thoughts and lingering silences. It is not a parody, or even, it seems to me, a conscious adoption of the other’s method, though he does borrow phrases from James’ own writings. It is more as if CT has absorbed James’ way of thinking and feeling, and let it express itself as it may – including several scenes of perfect comedy. After a while I started reading very slowly, to prolong the pleasure.
Andy wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "Has anyone enjoyed anything by Denis Johnson other than Jesus' Son and Train Dreams? Just wondering because he has other short books."I enjoyed Angels, gave it 5 stars ..."
Angels is the only one I've read so far, I liked it enough that I'd meant to read his next few 80s books in order of publication but somehow I never got around to it. I think now I'll move on to the 90s as I've already spent more time on the previous decade in general than I'd meant to, going in. That would make Resuscitation of a Hanged Man (1990) the next up, if I stick to this plan.
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mailers A Fire On The Moon is a book i wish i had noticed a long time ago, as its a brilliant work of New Journalism and fits in well with the D..."Von Braun wrote some fiction that I think might be interesting to look at, given who he was. According to his wikipedia write-up there was a novel titled Project Mars - and also a non-fiction work called The Mars Project, confusingly enough!
I don't really know much about him but he looks very striking in his photographs.
Berkley wrote: "I don't really know much about him but he looks very striking in his photographs."Neither do I, except for this:
While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Following the war he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip.[5] He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1. (from Wikipedia)
Reading a bit more of that entry, it seems as if von Braun joined the Nazis because it was expedient to do so (in 1937), became a member of the SS at Himmler's request in 1940, and downplayed his involvement post-war when questioned by the US Army. Naturally, he denied seeing the mistreatment of slave labour used in the Nazi rocket building programme:
SS General Hans Kammler, who as an engineer had constructed several concentration camps, including Auschwitz, had a reputation for brutality and had originated the idea of using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers in the rocket program. Arthur Rudolph, chief engineer of the V-2 rocket factory at Peenemünde, endorsed this idea in April 1943 when a labor shortage developed. More people died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by it as a weapon.[41] Von Braun admitted visiting the plant at Mittelwerk on many occasions,[5] and called conditions at the plant "repulsive", but claimed never to have personally witnessed any deaths or beatings, although it had become clear to him by 1944 that deaths had occurred.[42] He denied ever having visited the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp itself, where 20,000 died from illness, beatings, hangings, and intolerable working conditions. (Wikipedia)
Clearly, despite his Nazi party membership, von Braun was considered too valuable (along with the other Paperclip engineers) to be locked up, and they were transferred surreptitiously to the USA in 1945. This decision was criticised by Albert Einstein and others when it became public knowledge.
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This was impressive. It tells the story of Henry James in his fifties, covering the five years after the failure of his play Guy Domville, his move from Kensington to Rye,..."
Yes, I really liked it too.
Inspired by the Top 10 gripes over at the G, I enoyed reading a good rant on THINGS this morning: You have to watch THINGS. They're always making trouble, getting out of hand, trying to take advantage. THINGS do not have our best interest at heart. They have their own agenda. They care only for other THINGS.(first chapter in Lucy Ellmann's Things Are Against Us), which goes on to list all sorts of things that can go wrong.
Just hope "THINGS" here won't be "against us" after reading of all sorts of misadventures (or malevolent acts by THINGS, as you take it)!
No dropped coffee cup so far, at least. Maybe we should skip cleaning the place for a bit!
I have a book-related question:
During an uninhibited fiction shopping spree in June, I bought Olive, Again, because I recalled, vaguely, some recommendations of "Olive" here and in TL&S. Only noticed later that it is a sequel to Olive Kitteridge. Do you think I should read them in sequence or could Olive, Again be read as a standalone? Any takes?
Berkley wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mailers A Fire On The Moon is a book i wish i had noticed a long time ago, as its a brilliant work of New Journalism and fits in wel..."Sounds interesting, Von Braun was a genius rocketeer...i wonder if those novels are in print?
scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "I don't really know much about him but he looks very striking in his photographs."Neither do I, except for this:
While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Na..."
Reinhard Gehlen and Von Braun were possibly the highest ranking Nazi's to become part of the allied sphere after WW2. Gehlen was a Nazi intelligence officer with promises of intel and was a big shot in West Germany,
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Inspired by the Top 10 gripes over at the G, I enoyed reading a good rant on THINGS this morning: You have to watch THINGS. They're always making trouble, getting out of hand, trying to take advant..."I wonder how many here remember 'Thing' from the Adams Family?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEVB...
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Gosh. I sure wouldn't recommend it. Though it would be interesting to know if O,A does stand up on its own, I'd hate for anyone to miss out on the power of the whole if it doesn't.
Shelflife_was Booklooker wrote: "...a book related question..."
My take is that, while Olive Kitteridge was wonderful, Olive, Again was, to be blunt, not really of the same standard. So I would read them in sequence. If you start with OA you might never go on to OK.
My take is that, while Olive Kitteridge was wonderful, Olive, Again was, to be blunt, not really of the same standard. So I would read them in sequence. If you start with OA you might never go on to OK.
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This was impressive...."
Thanks for this write-up, Russell. I let myself get distracted by something else, but after 70 or so pages of The Master, I sense it heading in the direction you describe, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it.
MB, have you read it, or do you have any interest in it? I can't think of James without thinking about you and a certain wild month over at the Reading Group...
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Inspired by the Top 10 gripes over at the G, I enoyed reading a good rant on THINGS this morning: You have to watch THINGS. They're always making trouble, getting out of hand, trying to take advant..."I have a problem with THINGS, which always seem to drop out of my nerveless hands, or slither unaccountably onto the floor from the coffee table when I put something else on it... or just fall off, because they are slippery as hell and I put them down on something sloping at 1% to the horizontal.
I shout out: "F**k the (whatever)", but my wife is unimpressed, and blames me.
But we know better: it's down to "the intransigence of objects".
Finished Great Expectations.I never thought I could be disappointed by a Dickens novel. But this was a slog. About as exuberant as the marshes on a dark drizzly November evening, or Miss Havishams house of the living dead. Drawn out, often borderline boring, humour to be had only in homeopathic doses, very few characters I cared for, be it in a positive or negative sense.
I still have no idea how it came to be seen as one of his greatest works. And I will remain ignorant forever because I have no intention to re-read it. Ever.
AB76 wrote: "Reinhard Gehlen and Von Braun were possibly the highest ranking Nazi's to become part of the allied sphere after WW2. Gehlen was a Nazi intelligence officer with promises of intel and was a big shot in West Germany."The real-life Gehlen was used as a character in more than one spy novel I read a long time ago... by Len Deighton, or Le Carré, or someone else? I have forgotten.
I have just begun a comforting re-read of Dissolution which has taken me (page 47) to Google to verify that Brother Houghton was connected with a favorite London venue - https://thecharterhouse.org/. Unfortunately, he did not recant and was the first English Catholic martyr to die as a result of the Act of Supremacy by King Henry VIII of England.I must miss tidbits when reading the first time, that's one reason to do it again. Another is that C. J. Sansom is so knowledgeable about 'dear, old' Henry, his cohort, Cromwell, and the era. With his solicitor background. he weaves history with mystery to great effect.
I think many of us enjoyed the quiz set up by @Shelflife_was Booklooker , even if (like me) you scored the UK's traditional Eurovision score of 'nul points'.It got me thinking about what helps us to remember a 'first sentence' (or paragraph), and I could come up with three suggestions:
1. The sentence has often been quoted or referred to, so even when we haven't read the book, we know the sentence - the beginning of Pride and Prejudice must certainly belong in that category - I know the sentence well, but have never read the book.
2. A book we have read recently - we haven't had time to forget how it opens... and
3. As in music, so in literature/writing - some individuals have a style which, once we have become attuned to it and gained some familiarity, is difficult to mistake for another voice. This would allow the identification of an author rather than a specific book, usually.
To see if the theory stands up, here is the opening paragraph of a book I am reading (I have jumped to the first 'real' chapter, leaving out the brief preface)... I am reasonably certain that anyone familiar with the author will know at once who it is:
Stakeout.
It's a sit-and-wait job. Some hot-prowl burglar/rape-o's out creeping. He's Tommy Glennon, recent Quentin grad. He's notched five 459/sodomies since Pearl Harbor.
Happy fucking New Year.
Hint: it isn't Jane Austen...
I'll post the solution here: (view spoiler) and trust y'all to honestly claim to have the solution, if you get it.
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Reinhard Gehlen and Von Braun were possibly the highest ranking Nazi's to become part of the allied sphere after WW2. Gehlen was a Nazi intelligence officer with promises of intel and ..."Hmm, didnt know that, i'm glad we had Gehlen on our side during the Cold War, fighting the evils of communism, though he did seem to use a lot of ex-Nazi's to do this. Although in the DDR, many ex-Nazi's moved into the communist secret police, their skills were needed, to extract confessions, torture and murder, as the communists had a similar skill set of murderous repression.
scarletnoir wrote: "Clearly, despite his Nazi party membership, von Braun was considered too valuable (along with the other Paperclip engineers) to be locked up, and they were transferred surreptitiously to the USA in 1945."There used to be an old joke to the effect that the reason the US won the space race was that the Americans' Germans were smarter than the Russians' Germans.
scarletnoir wrote: "I am reasonably certain that anyone familiar with the author will know at once who it is."I had seen in my feed that you had started reading this (still haven't read the first of this second tetralogy!), but I feel I'd have recognised them anyway...
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The Test of Leadership Lies in Anticipating a Problem Before it Becomes an Emergency.
HOWEVER
The Test of Fortitude Lies in Enduring the Emergency as it Slowly Becomes a Catastrophe.
Can't say why that popped into my mind....